A lot of my preps are "deep" preps... for when the XX number of months of "regular" food runs out, or in the case of something making growing our own food as we usually do impossible for a year. Say, a nuke issue, where radiation makes staying outdoors long enough to plant/tend/harvest gardens too dangerous.
No, I'm not looking forwards to eating beans and rice every day, and under normal conditions, that isn't what we'll have to do. And yes, I catch some flack from the grown kids about the "mess" in the basement. I'm blessed that hubby's only comments are "we need a bigger basement"... but he's benefitted several times from my "prepper mania' (most recently when we were able to go 11 months without a penny of income while he waited for, and then recovered from, a total hip replacement, because we had everything we needed on hand) and he's smart enough to acknowledge that.
And yes, I've used the "insurance" angle more than once when talking to the kids. I once asked the most vocal of them "how much do you spend on auto, home and health insurance every year?" and pointed out that I had spent less than that on "life insurance" (in the form of preps) that will cover 10-20 years. They backed off after that,
Interestingly, I got a call from my DWGI daughter yesterday, saying "I know you've probably seen the Ebola news from Dallas"... and then going on to say that her hubby has said they are NOT flying to Florida for a winter vacation as they had been planning, and that they WILL be coming to our farm to self-isolate if it gets to our state. I also heard those delicious words "you were right"!! DD is a sweetheart, and there's no one I'd rather have here with me if TSHTF- she's got organizational talents I never got, and between us two and the other two DIL's (if the one can leave her "essential" job... not sure of that yet) we will manage to handle keeping what's going to be a chaotic household fed, cleaned and organized. However, she has more of a "female" brain than I do, and definitely fits the mold of "not wanting to think about stuff like that". Fortunately, she's also got a strong practical streak once things can't be ignored any longer, so at least we won't have to drag her, kicking and screaming, into isolation.
Summerthyme